


For The Greater Good

by WindOfTheWillows17



Category: Harry Potter - JK Rowling
Genre: Community: HPFT, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-04
Updated: 2016-06-04
Packaged: 2018-07-12 05:19:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7086922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WindOfTheWillows17/pseuds/WindOfTheWillows17
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Albus is nearing the end of his life and decides to look back on memories of the one he loved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For The Greater Good

The sun was rapidly setting outside of the castle as Albus stood at the large window looking out across the grounds. Around him, the candle light glowed dimly casting ghostly shadow onto the walls. The deafening silence of the room was only broken up by the soft snoring of the portraits that dotted the walls throughout the cathedral like room. With a heavy sigh, he tore himself away from the sunset and made his way back to his large, claw footed desk. Sitting serenely upon it was the pensieve. 

He sat down in the chair behind the desk contemplating the basin in front of him as if he were locked in a battle of wills. He knew that his time was short and when he looked down at his charred hand, he was reminded of how short that time actually was. His time here on earth had been marred by the curse that lay afoul upon the ring that he destroyed almost a year ago. The reward was the one hallow that he yearned for all those years ago after his mother's death and was now cruelly sucking his life slowly away.

With a heavy heart, he took his wand in his hand and placed it on his temple, concentrating hard on the memories he wanted to extract. Once the glimmering strand came free, he lowered the tip of his wand into the smooth, calm surface of the awaiting pensieve. His memories swirled around as he leaned forward allowing himself to succumb to the temptation of seeing him again.

Albus landed firmly in the garden of the cottage he grew up in in Godric's Hollow. It was a quaint home, surrounded by a hedgerow to keep out the prying eyes of the local villagers. Hidden among the wild trees and shrubs was a wrought iron gate with a worn dirt path leading up to the cottage door.

Albus kept his eyes fixed on the gate as his heart rate quickened. He could hear their footsteps as they drew near and the squeak of the protesting gate as it opened allowing them into their hidden world. When they crossed the threshold his eyes immediately fell on him.

He watched them as they walked up the dusty path to the cottage as Bathilda stretched out her hand and rapped sharply on the wooden surface of the door. They stood back, both waiting patiently. 

The door opened slowly revealing the younger version of himself in the doorway. 

"Good afternoon Albus, Bathilda said sadly as the door opened the rest of the way. "I am so sorry to hear of your mother's passing. She was such a lovely person."

"Thank you," Albus replied with a hint of despair in his voice. "She was very fond of you too." 

"Now, I know you are busy taking care of your brother and sister, but I wanted to introduce you to someone." Bathilda informed him with a satisfied smile on her face. 

Just then a young man stepped around Bathilda's left side revealing a tall, muscular figure with golden shoulder length hair that curled at the ends. His eyes were a bluish gray and his face was smooth with a merry, wild look about him. There was something highly intriguing to Albus about him that he just couldn't put his finger on as he felt weak in the knees taking in his appearance. 

"This," she began to explain, "is my great nephew Gellert. Gellert Grindlewald."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Gellert informed him as he held out his hand to shake Albus'.

He extended his hand to Gellert's and shook it carefully. "The pleasure is all mine." Albus replied as he felt a tiny spark flare up inside of him just before their hands broke apart.

The memory in the pensieve twisted and spun until Albus found himself walking behind two boys down the cobbled pathways in the graveyard beside the church. They were eagerly looking for a single, important grave that rumors had indicated was here.

"Maybe we should split up?" Gellert suggested as they continued to look and read the names on the graves.

"Good idea," Albus replied as he bent down to try and read the name on a very weathered and worn tombstone. "We'll be able to find it faster that way."

Gellert nodded his agreement and the two boys set off in opposite directions. Names like Abbott, Williams, Knighton and Bowman Wright popped up, but still the one they looked for remained elusive. 

Albus wandered around aimlessly in a far corner of the graveyard and Gellert explored the ones closer to the worn out tombstone that Albus had been examining earlier. 

"It's here!" Gellert called out to Albus.

There in front of him lay the grave of Ignotus Peverell. As Gellert looked over the stone he noticed and ran his hand across the roughly carved deathly hallow symbol. "You really need to have a look at this!" He yelled out to Albus. When he received no reply, he glanced around to see that Albus was standing in front of a different grave site. 

Gellert walked swiftly away from Ignotus' grave to figure out what was going on unsure if Albus had found another clue to their hallows mystery. "What's going on?" He questioned his companion as he came up next to him. 

Albus said nothing, but continued to stare at the simple headstone in front of him the black name of 'Kendra Dumbledore' stood out brilliantly against white marble. 

"This is your mother." Gellert stated as he lifted his hand and placed it on Albus' shoulder. "What happened?"

Albus looked up into Gellert's mystical eyes and sighed. "My mother had been my sister Ariana's caretaker. Years ago Ariana had been outside in the garden of our old home, minding her own business, when some muggle boys came along and witnessed her use magic. Because of their fear, they decided for whatever reason to attack my sister. To this very day she remains physically and mentally damaged from the incident. Her magic builds up and comes out in very violent ways. My mother wasn't young, so one night when she was caring for my sister, who was having an outburst, she was hit with the rebounding magic and died."

"I am so sorry Albus." Gellert said as he squeezed Albus' shoulder. " I promise you that when we finally unite the hallows, you will never have the ability to lose another loved one ever again."

Albus smiled weakly as the two boys stood there looking down at the grave of his mother. Gellert was eager to get back to finding out more clues for the hallows, but knew that his friend needed him more right now. 

The older Albus was standing behind them and had tears in his eyes as he watched his younger self. It was in that moment of his youth that he had fallen in love with Gellert Grindlewald. 

The memory faded out and when it finally came into focus, Albus found himself in his old bedroom. 

It was a small and cozy room with the walls covered in volumes upon volumes of books. Above his messy, unmade bed he proudly hung a Gryffindor banner and under that, he had a couple of posters of the Puddlemere United Quidditch team. 

The two young men sat on the old wooden floor of his bedroom huddled together in deep conversation with a single book between them. 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard'.

"Well we already know that the third brother has to be Ignotus and since we found his grave in the cemetery there has to be more clues hidden somewhere around the village." Gellert explained to his equally bright friend. 

"There is nothing more that we can do besides going out and having a look." Albus explained in agreeing with his friend. 

"Once we have all three just think of the possibilities that lay before us!" Gellert claimed gleefully.

"Your idea of revolution is intriguing, but we need to focus on one thing or the other." Albus cautiously advised. "We don't want to get sidetracked.

Gellert nodded. "We will bring about the greatest revolution of our time. When we do you're sister won't have to be hidden away from the muggles anymore. We will have supreme rule."

The memory went foggy for a minute almost reminding the older Albus of the one that Harry had acquired from Horace Slughorn. Soon the fogginess began to lift and Albus found himself standing in the sitting room of his boyhood home, but this time he knew that the memory that would evolve in front of his eyes would bring him the greatest of pain. 

"What do you think you're going to do?" Aberforth questioned his brother. "I will be heading back to Hogwarts soon and won't be here to care for our sister, but that is your fault. I told you I didn't care about school! I told you that it didn't matter anymore and what did you say?" 

"That your education is important and that I won't see you give it up." Albus replied dully to his brothers outburst. 

The reality of the situation angered the both of them, but not nearly as much as it angered Gellert.

Aberforth continued to berate his brother, his friend, and their cause. "You'd better give it up now. You can't move her, she's in no fit state, you can't take her with you, wherever it is that you are planning to go, when you are making your clever speeches, trying to whip yourselves up a following." 

"What do you know?" Gellert yelled back at Aberforth. "You're a stupid little boy! Stop getting in the way of your brother and I. We are much more intelligent than you are and we know what we're doing. You don't understand!" 

Gellert began to pace angrily in front of them. Aberforth had a dumbfounded look on his face. 

"We wouldn't have to hide Ariana once we change the world." Albus informed his brother.

"It doesn't matter if she is hidden away or not Albus!" Aberforth growled at his brother. "You cannot neglect her for the greater good!"

Both the younger and older Albus' faces paled at this comment. Is that what he was doing? Neglecting the only family he had for him?

"We will do as we please with or without your permission." Gellert cruelly said to Aberforth as he stopped pacing to look at him menacingly. 

Aberforth ignored Gellert as he continued to plead to his brother. "Albus, please see reason! She can't be moved! You know as well as I do that with him around," Aberforth began to explain as he gestured rudely to Gellert before continuing on. "She will only end up as a casualty in the end. Please!"

"Enough!" Gellert yelled as he walked menacingly towards Aberforth, backing him into the wall. 

When Gellert was no more than two feet from him, Aberforth spit in his face. "That's what I think about you and your greater good nonsense!"

Gellerts expression changed instantly to lethal.

Aberforth sensed what was coming and raised his wand as quickly as he could to defend himself, but it was to late, Gellert was too quick.

"Crucio!" Gellert yelled as Albus lunged forward trying intervene in the fray.

Aberforth's body fell instantly to the floor and began to jerked uncontrollably. His haunting screams filled the space around them as Albus pleaded with Gellert. When words didn't seem to get their point across, Albus pulled his wand and held it up to Gellert's face. Immediately Aberforth stopped screaming as Gellert lifted the curse.

Albus watched him dangerously. 

"So that's it? You choose them? What a waste of such brilliance!" Gellert exclaimed to Albus. "We could have had it all you and me!"

Albus' heart sank. It was true, he wanted nothing more than to be able to go with Gellert, but Aberforth was right. He was needed here to care for his siblings. Besides, he wasn't a cruel person. Sure those muggles were at fault for damaging his sister and inadvertently caused the imprisonment and death of his father and eventual death of his mother. He hated those muggle boys and he would love nothing more than to have a power over them. To make them pay for what they did to his family, but the choice was right there in front of him staring him in the face. Any feelings he had for Gellert were obviously not reciprocated.

"I cannot go with you Gellert." Albus heartbreakingly informed his companion. 

"What about the hallows? Don't you still want to collect the resurrection stone?" Gellert questioned him back.

"No!" Albus shouted painfully knowing that this is truly what his heart desired. "Death will just be life's next great adventure."

Just as Gellert was turning around to leave, Aberforth who had been inching towards his wand that had fallen out of his hand as his body hit the floor, lifted it and shot a curse at Gellert. 

Gellert immediately took aim at Aberforth and shot a killing curse back at him.

Things quickly escalated between the three and jets of multicolored light began to fly about the room.

The older Albus watched in front of him the terrible scene unfold. The barrage of spells danced around the room as each caster dodged them as best as they could. The dueling trio had been so involved in what they were doing that they didn't notice the young girl enter the room until she was directly in the middle of the three of them. He watched in horror as his sister screamed and took a rebounded killing curse squarely to the chest, collapsing to the floor beneath her. 

Albus and Aberforth ran forward to their sister, but there was nothing they could do. When Albus looked around for Gellert, he had noticed he was gone. He had taken the opportunity to flee as they were tending to her. None of them knowing which one casted the curse that ended her young life. 

As the air filled with grief around him, Albus pulled himself out of the pensieve. Tears ran down his wrinkled cheeks as he looked around the dark office, taking it all in. He walked over to Fawkes and stroked his beautifully colored head. "So long, my friend."

His body felt weaker as he grabbed his wand off the desk top and made his way to the door. He had to meet up with Harry and he knew that he wouldn't be returning.

98 years later...

In a lonely cell in Nurmengard, Gellert Grindlewald was informed of the death of Albus Dumbledore. Shock had spread across his aged face when he learned of the manner of Albus' death. 

When the guards left him, he began to weep. In all this time he had never forgiven himself for the pain he caused his friend all those years ago and now he was dead. He was too late.

1 year after...

The gaunt body of Gellert sat up looking at the newcomer in his cell. "So, you have come. I thought you would... one day. But your journey was pointless. I never had it.

"You lie!" Voldemort's cold voice yelled out.

"Kill me, then, Voldemort, I welcome death!" Gellert shouted at him.

He taunted and continued to taunt until Voldemort had had enough.

In the end it was a flash of green light that ended his life.

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this one-shot. It was truly difficult to write, but I am really happy with the outcome. Thank you for reading and if you could, please leave a review! I would love to know what you thought! :)
> 
> Italicized portions of the story are Credited to J.K. Rowling
> 
> Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows US Edition Chapter Twenty-Eight The Missing Mirror Page: 566
> 
> Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows US Edition Chapter Twenty-Three Malfoy Manor Page:456
> 
> Names that appear in the Graveyard scene are from Harry Potter Wiki- Godric's Hollow


End file.
